362 JAMES ROLLIN SLONAKER 
Shrews. In the Mole the ilia are solidly ankylosed to nearly the whole 
length of the sacrum. In the Shrews the two first only of the sacral 
pieces are united with the ilia. The spines in both are coalesced into 
a prominent sacral crest. Caudal pieces numerous. 
The ila are cylindrical, much approximated, and parallel to the 
spinal column. The ischia are much elongated, and elevated pos- 
teriorly above the sacral vertebrae. The pubes are very short and 
slender, and though they unite with the short ischial rami to inclose 
a small obturator foramen, do not meet in a symphysis, but present an 
anterior interval, said to be wider in the female than the male, and 
causing the whole pelvis to assume very much a bird-like appearance. 
The pelvic cavity and outlets are so straight that the sexual and uri- 
nary organs and rectum pass altogether in front of it. 
Later Leche (’80), describing the embryo mole of 35 to 41 
mm. body length, says that a cartilaginous band connects the 
posterior angles of the pubic bones, completely closing off the 
pelvis on the ventral side. Through this enclosed space the 
urogenital and alimentary tracts pass in a normal manrier. He 
also states that the pubic bones in the embryo of Talpa are 
wider apart than in the adult. The same statement is found, 
word for word, in volume 1 of Bronn’s Klassen und Ordnungen 
(p. 581). 
Ferner sind die beim erwachsenen Thiere einander so nahe gelegenen 
vordersten Schambeintheile (in der Acetabulargegend) beim Embryo 
weit von einander entfernt. In diesem geraéumigen, in der Acetabular- 
region offenen, im hintersten Theile ventralwirts geschlossenen Becken 
liegen in ganz normaler Weise Urogenitalsystem und Mastdarm und 
gehen, ventralwirts vom obengenannten Knorpelbande umschlossen, 
durch das Becken. Auch bei Embryonen von Soriciden fand ich ein 
Schamfugenligament. 
Leche further remarks in a footnote that in the adult mole, 
as first described by Jacobs, 1816 (no reference given), the uro- 
genital and alimentary tracts run outside of the pelvis and on the 
ventral side. This is the earliest reference I have found referring 
to this condition. 
The abdominal cavity extends well back posterior to the 
pelvis, carrying. with it the openings of the urogenital and 
alimentary tracts. This fact was known to Bell (39) for, in 
discussing the mole, he says: 
